Acad names Nicholl winners

South African among fivesome earning fellowships

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences named five winners of its annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

Culled from a record 7,197 submitted scripts, the honorees included the first winners from Louisiana and South Africa.

This year’s winners were Nikole Beckwith of Brooklyn, N.Y. (“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”), Sean Robert Daniels of Laezonia, South Africa (“Killers”), James DiLapo of New York (“Devils at Play”), Allan Durand of Lafayette, La. (“Willie Francis Must Die Again”) and Michael Werwie of Los Angeles (“Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile”).

Each writer will receive a $35,000 prize (with the understanding they will complete a feature screenplay during their fellowship year) and will be honored at a gala dinner in Beverly Hills on Nov. 8.